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Lycanthropic Culture Shock Analysis

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Analyze Claudette’s development in relation to the five stages of Lycanthropic Culture Shock.

In ”St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves”, Russell Wolves”, Russell writes a short story regarding a group of girls, whose parents are werewolves. Their parents sent them to St. Lucy’s Home for Girls to be reformed into civilized humans and become functional members of society. The main character, Claudette, is developed by comparing her behavior in each stage The Jesuit Handbook on Lycanthropic Culture Shock. The handbook partially accounts for Claudette throughout the five stages of Lycanthropic Culture Shock. In Stage One, the handbook somewhat accurately describes Claudette’s experience. In the first stage the handbook reports that the girls will enjoy this stage. It’s “fun” for them to “explore their new environment”(pg. 225). Claudette, as well the rest of the pack, take joy in “jump[ing] from bunk to bunk” and “bucking in kinetic laughter”(pg.225). …show more content…

The handbook simply explains that the students should now be able to “interact effectively in the new cultural environment” as well as “find it easy to move between the two culture”(pg. 246). Claudette gains a new human identity in Stage 5. She wore her “best dress and brought along some prosciutto and dill pickles”(pg.246) when she reconnected with her family. This shows that Claudette can now effectively behavior in a new human environment. However the handbook states that she should be able to “easy to move between the two culture”(pg.246). This is not the case when it comes to Claudette. When she first reconnects with her family after her time at St.Lucy’s her “mother recoiled from me, as if I was a stranger”(pg.249). Claudette develops a human identity, but in the process her wolf identity is somehow damaged. Therefore rendering her unable to easily “move between the two

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